Let's Be Clear
by MyFireYourStorm
Summary: Edward is your typical attractive, good looking, popular, wealthy bully. Bella is your typical bookish, ordinary, academic victim. What happens when Edward finds himself in need of Bella's brain and Bella in need for Edward's brawl? And what will Bella do when she finds out the reason for Edward's inflated ego and his need to be superior?
1. Chapter 1

Bella looked at her absolutely soaked book and sighed. Another day, another book ruined, by another bully. She hated this school, all the people in it were arrogant and uneducated pigs; she couldn't wait to get out of there! She wished she still lived in sunny Phoenix, with the sun beating unrestrainedly at the back of her neck and the people who were unfailingly friendly. The only plus side about living in the ever-rainy town of Forks was the fact that she had two amazing friends, Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They were twins, and yet you would never be able to find two people more dissimilar, not in looks, but in personality and demeanour.

Jasper was tall, a good foot and three inches bigger than Bella. He had curly dirty blond hair which framed his face, a surprising amount of freckles and a strong southern accent. His eyes were a clear strong blue, his eyelashes thick and long. He had lithe muscles that were lightly highlighted by the snug fitting band tops he was so fond of wearing. He was the goalie for the school soccer team. He also wore about fifty bracelets on his right wrist permanently, each one with it's own little story as to how he came to acquire it. You would've thought his easy-going nature, money and good looks would've made him one of the most popular guys in town – wrong. Because he was adopted and new in town, he was therefore an outcast; something that he didn't really seem to mind.

Rosalie was also tall, naturally but also because she wore the most high heels in Forks. She was also absolutely stunning. Her golden blonde hair fell in soft waves to her lower back, just brushing the top of her bum. Her skin had a permanent sunkissed glow, something unattainable if you lived in Forks and yet somehow she had one, and it was natural. Her eyes were a curious mix of green and blue, but big and also framed by long blonde lashes, which she covered in mascara anyway. She was never seen without wearing her signature red lipstick; and her red Aston Martin DB9 hardtop convertible made many of the male residents of Forks drool. She had a barely there Southern accent, and was one of the most talkative and outspoken people anyone had ever met. She was fairly popular, being a flier on the cheer leading squad and dating the best striker on the soccer team, but her protectiveness and loyalty to Bella and Jasper stopped her from being Miss Popular.

Bella was completely different to the other thirds of the trio. She was small, not sporty in the slightest, and was nearly always seen with a book in her hand. Her hair was such a dark brown it was almost black, and fell ramrod straight down her back to reach the same length as Rosalie's. Her light brown eyes were always covered with her maroon glasses. She had a small nose, small lips and was unbelievably pale. She wasn't toned like Rosalie, rather slightly dumpy. But she didn't mind about her weight, not in the slightest. Her dad was the Chief of Police, Charlie Swan, and, like him, she was emotionally inept. Even though she loved reading her intelligence wasn't top of the class in Maths or Science. She wore make up often, foundation, liquid eye liner and mascara her custom. She had recently moved to Forks, which made her, of course, an outcast. When she'd arrived, she had been utterly alone until lunch had rolled around and the Hale twins had sat at the empty table with her. They'd been inseparable since.

Bella sighed and walked to her locker. When she arrived there, Rosalie and Jasper were waiting for her with identical grins on their faces, Jasper with his hands behind his back. Rose was wearing black jeans and a red blouse with red heels. Jasper was wearing tight maroon jeans, his navy v-neck t-shirt and grey vans.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELLA!" They chorused. Bella rolled her eyes but was secretly pleased. This was the first 'Happy Birthday' she'd received today; Charlie had still been in bed by the time she'd left. He was working night shifts at the moment.

"Thanks guys," She grinned. Jasper's arm swung round, a present clutched in his large hand. With the other hand he ruffled Bella's hair and then gave her the wrapped parcel.

"Hope you like it," He said in his Southern twang.

Bella started to unwrap, "Knowing you guys it's sure to be something ridi- Oh my gosh! You didn't!"

Rosalie grinned, "We did!"

Bella opened the jewellery box, and gently took out the silver locket. It was engraved:

_diligo est eternus_

She opened it and sure enough was the picture of her grandma on one half and her uncle James, who died only a year earlier.

She looked up at her friends with watery eyes, "Thank you so much!" she whispered. They went into their usual three personed hug when a voice interrupted, a voice that was velvety smooth yet cut like a knife through their happiness.

"Oh look, it's Issy's birthday! Got her another book that she can stick her abnormally large nose into? Perhaps you could get her a diet book, help her to shift a bit of that weight, hey?"

Edward Cullen sneered, hatred filling his cold emerald eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Bella lowered her head in response. Jasper and Rosalie immediately bristled.

"Just leave her alone Cullen," Jasper said quietly, with an underlying tone of authority. Edward scoffed.

"Excuse me? Who invited you into the conversation?" He sneered.

"It's hardly a conversation if only one person is doing the talking," Rosalie countered, flicking thick blonde hair over her shoulder and raising a challenging eye brow.

Edward glared at her but knew that he couldn't say anything, she had allies in high places; it wouldn't be to his benefit to properly piss her off.

"See you in English, Issy." He jeered and sauntered off, his usual posse of rich, good-looking guys and girls laughing with him, at Bella. The girl in question shook her head miserably.

"What is his problem with me?" She huffed.

"Don't let him spoil your day Bella!" Rosalie replied, "He's just feeling sore because we're not in awe of him, unlike the rest of the students in this dumb ass school,"

"Agreed," Jasper smiled, "Come on, time for the worst class - Maths!" They all groaned but started walking in the direction of their dreaded lesson.

Maths passed by in a breeze, for Bella and Jasper that was; Rosalie spent most of the time arguing with the teacher about whether she had her phone out. As the lesson drew to an end, she still had in her palms, typing furiously.

But next was English - one of the two subjects she shared with Edward, the other being Science. Rosalie and Jasper were in a different group and so she had to brave it on her own. Bella sat right at the back, in the left hand corner; and unfortunately, Edward sat a seat in front. He was forever sneakily turning round and hissing insults. She couldn't reply half the time because the sat around her were all Edward's friends and would of course snitch if she tried to utter a word.

So she passed through each lesson in miserable silence; and was doing just that when half way through a Powerpoint presentation on Romeo and Juliet, an Admin teacher popped her head round the door and called softly.

"Sorry to interrupt, but could I please borrow Edward Cullen for a minute? Bring your stuff," She called to him. WIth an easy grin he picked up his rucksack and expensive, fashionable raincoat and swaggered out of the room. Bella was sure she was the only person who noticed the hint of tension in his shoulders, the worried glint in his grass coloured eyes.

When she walked out of the lesson she noticed that over by his locker, standing on his own in a hunched position was an unusually quiet Edward Cullen. She didn't go over, for fear of a verbal slaughtering; but the curiosity of the situation stayed with her.

At lunch Jasper produced a small, homemade chocolate cake and they quietly sung 'Happy Birthday' and ate it together. 'They', being Bella, Jasper, Rosalie, Mike, Angela, Jessica and Ben. After that they chatted for a bit and the topic of Edward's new demeanour was raised.

"Did you notice Cullen? Apparently he got pulled out of English and hasn't been acting his usual ass-hat self since! Is this true Bella?" Jessica asked excitedly, she was also another victim of Edward's taunting, though not as badly as Bella.

"Well he definitely got pulled out of English," She murmured. And that was she needed to say, for at that moment, the topic of conversation glided through the cafeteria doors, his eyes downcast, without his usual pack of cronies. He picked up a sandwich and a bottle of water and walked over to his group table, his friends smiling and joking as though everything was fine. Immediately he changed, his signature smirk on his face, his cocky voice inserting snide remarks every so often into their conversation.

Rosalie was the first to look away, rolling her eyes. "He's fine, same old Cullen as before," The rest of the group murmured agreement and turned away. Except for Bella, who's intrigued brown eyes stayed on him a beat longer.

When Bella got home she was greeted by a note on the fridge telling her to meet her dad, Charlie at the diner for a birthday dinner and some presents. Being as how it was her birthday, the meal was on the house. Her presents from Charlie were a watch, a charm for her bracelet, some new headphones and some of her favourite sweets.

All in all, she mused later that night in bed, it wasn't a half bad birthday. But if only she could know what was going on with a certain Edward Anthony Cullen.

**A/N ~ Horrifically short I know, but we're just getting into the flow, some 1,000+ word chapters coming up!**

**On another note, if bored or wanting to be extra lovely, please share or like this cover of me singing! :D youtube watch ?v=yGKGF e26woA (remove the spaces etc.) Thank you! Next chapter coming up either later or tomorrow!**


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